Learn 6 Charter School opened on the grounds of Naval Station Great Lakes in 2012, offering parents from North Chicago School District 187 an alternative for their elementary and middle school children.
Four years later, Learn 10 Charter School opened, educating students in District 187’s former Yeager Elementary School in North Chicago. Since then, District 187 and Chicago-based Learn Charter School Network officials have continued to negotiate a contract, but have failed to reach an agreement.
In March, District 187’s Independent Authority — which functions as a board of education — voted to renew the charters for seven years. At the time, Learn President and CEO Gregory White was pleased.
“That was a real vote of confidence,” White said. “It’s unheard of. We had to have the contract done by June.”
District 187 Superintendent John Price said contract talks continued. But, there was no deal by the end of June. Though there were more discussions, there was no headway which led to an impasse coming to a head on Sept. 23.o
After the Independent Authority voted 4-1, with an abstention and an absence, that day to wind down the charter schools starting next year, state Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, proposed mediation which Price accepted Saturday and White OK’d Monday.
A mediator was appointed. Johnson said the focus of everyone should be on the students. District 187 and Learn officials need to come to an agreement for the benefit of the youngsters and the community.
“They have to rely on each other and do nothing to undermine the performance of District 187 students,” she said. “There is room for both kinds of schools — general schools and the charter schools. What I want is for them to work together to leverage the strengths of each other.”
Basically, Price said three issues need resolution — the financial arrangement of how much money from District 187’s budget is allocated to the two charter schools, the functionality of the schools and the arrangement with the U.S. Navy.
Price said both sides are in agreement on the financial terms of the contract. With the Learn 6 lease with the Navy coming due in 2027, the military wants District 187 to be the tenant and Learn 6 a subtenant.
White was not as certain as Price on the current status of the contract. He made it clear that agreement on one point does not translate into how it will fit into a final arrangement. He said nothing about the lease situation.
“No deal is final until all points are agreed upon,” White said. “What we do has to be financially sustainable.”
Along with its two charter schools in North Chicago, White said the organization operates seven schools in Chicago, one in Waukegan — Learn 9 — and one on a military base in Washington, D.C. He said the charter schools offer an alternative that is needed.
“Our students are meeting or exceeding standards,” White said. “This is a great opportunity for them.”
While District 187 is charged with educating all children from kindergarten through high school within its boundaries, which includes the city of North Chicago and the Navy base, Learn students must apply and be accepted. Price said the district is responsible for all of them.
“The Learn students are D-187 students,” Price said in a text on Tuesday. “All of our students are D-187 students and the board’s focus is on how to serve all students.”
Independent Authority President Dora King also said she sees the students at both the charter schools and those going to school in the district’s buildings as the same. She and her colleagues are looking out for all of them.
“We’re here for all the children in North Chicago,” King said. “They all need to be educated and we want the best for them.”
King and Independent Authority members Amelia Gonzalez, Sylvia M. Johnson Jones and Sylvia Riley voted for the winddown while Gerald Coleman said no and Thomas Coleman, who is not related to Gerald, abstained. Vernonica Lynn Collins was absent.
Learn 6 was established in North Chicago in 2012 around the time the Illinois State Board of Education took control of the district because of both its poor financial condition and substandard academic performance of the students.
When the ISBE took control, it dissolved the elected board and put the Independent Authority in place along with a Financial Oversight Panel. At the time, the graduation rate from North Chicago Community High School was hovering around 50%.
Now the graduation rate is 85% and freshmen on track to graduate in four years is 91%, according to the ISBE report card.